Question:
My dog likes to jump on me and my wife when we come home. I have tried to push him down; I've tried to put my knee in front of him to make him stop, but nothing seems to help. I'm clueless as to what to do next, do you have any ideas?

Answer:
You must have trouble keeping your clothes clean, so you need to break your dog's bad habit. A knee in the chest is not a good idea. You should never use your body in a negative way when training your dog, plus, you could hurt the dog.

The best way to solve the problem is to look for a root cause. Do you pick up your dog and hold him? Do you encourage him to jump on you when you first greet him? If you are doing these things, you are sending the dog mixed messages. He does not understand when it is "okay" to jump and when it is "not okay" to jump.

Here are some suggestions if you want to break you dog of his jumping habit. Put a leash and a collar on the dog and place him in a situation where he is likely to want to jump on someone. When the dog tries to jump, give the leash a corrective jerk and say No! in a firm voice. Praise him when he stops jumping and do the whole thing again.

Another thing you can do is to tell your dog to "sit" before he starts jumping. If he stays with the command, then praise him/her verbally. Finally, you might want to try filling a squirt bottle with water and spraying your dog when he starts jumping.